A Former NASA Engineer Is Building An Apocalypse Robot Big Enough To Juggle Cars

Dan Granett, a former engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, is leading the charge to build a 70-foot-tall diesel-powered robot designed to juggle cars as if they were circus props, reports Gizmodo.

It's called the BugJuggler, and Granett and his team are currently seeking some $2.3 million to make it into a reality. Juggling is complex and require flawless hand-eye coordination, so this sideshow bot will rely upon a human operator embedded in the robot's head, hooked up to a haptic feedback suit while "juggling" in realtime.

The robot will simply follow the operator's motions in order to catch and release its "juggling balls" — Volkswagen Beetles.

Monster-sized robot that it is, the first thing to complete is a human-sized proof of concept. Granett estimates the prototype will cost $30,000 and take 60 days to assemble.